By Mihika Badjate
The crowd waits with bated breath, watching the basketball leave the player’s hands and as if in slow motion, descend through the hoop. As the buzzer rings for the final time, the gym erupts into cheers and students, decked in their school colors, rush onto the court to support their school team. Whether it’s cheering loudly from the stands at a home basketball game or coming to school in your pajamas for a spirit day, school spirit is an important part of high school.
By allowing students to get more involved in the school community, spirit activities foster a sense of school pride and belonging. There’s nothing like the feeling of being a part of the community, cheering from the stands with the other students from your school. Students who play sports, or are part of other school clubs, such as robotics or debate, feel supported when their classmates come out to cheer for them as well.
School can have the unfortunate stigma of being boring, with tests, quizzes, and homework on a daily basis. However, spirit activities help to keep it lively with dress-up days and activities happening regularly. It puts a smile on students’ faces to see the whole campus have crazy hair or to watch another grade’s class lip sync at an assembly. Students can also make new friends and meet people through getting involved with spirit activities.
While school spirit is definitely a big part of the high school experience, not all students may enjoy attending school dances or faking a broken arm for a dress-up day, and that’s fine too. School spirit is all about supporting your school, a sense of community, and having fun.
